[FEATURE] Claude Code should detect invalid JSON in settings.json on startup and show the path + line number of the issue

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

The settings.json file was malformed (~/.claude/settings.json or project-level). Because of the malformed ~/.claude/settings.json, Claude Code kept going through the normal setup sequence & going back to the beginning. We had to figure out the fact that the settings.json was malformed on our own without Claude's help.

Proposed Solution

Claude Code should detect invalid JSON on startup and show the path + line number of the issue.

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

Critical - Blocking my work

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

_No response_

Additional Context

_No response_